Sandwiched on Petitiononline.com in between 'Ban animal gas chambers' and 'Petition to tackle the rise of Islamophobia' is 'Final Cut Pro X is not a professional application.' Do we really need to sign this to get the message to Apple?
We think not. The amount of bad press FCPX has had in the last week means we are sure this has not gone unnoticed in a few important offices in Cupertino. It has been a complete PR nightmare and seems to be getting worse by the day. Anybody who has anything remotely to do with television, corporate production, event videography and Mac software/hardware will know about the bad FCPX situation.
So why the petition?
People are passionate and because they are passionate they are mad that FCPX is replacing good ol' FCP7. That anger has to go somewhere, some people make videos, some ramble on blogs and some want to sign a petition.
Apple will have to respond to this situation soon to try and plug the haemorrhaging goodwill of its users, developers, trainers and resellers. A petition won't help now, even if it does get publicised on CNN. We're pretty sure the damage has been noticed and there will be action to follow soon. We really do hope so.
You want the link to the petition? Final Cut Pro X is Not a Professional Application
"To: Apple, Inc.We, both the editors and affected filmmakers who rely on Final Cut Pro as a crucial business tool, do so in the same way Photoshop, Maya, Pro Tools, and other industry-standard applications are relied on by leading post-production environments. Many have invested hundreds of thousands (some even millions) of dollars in creating Final Cut Pro based companies. These are now threatened by a "prosumer-grade" product upgrade of Final Cut Pro 7 titled "Final Cut Pro X," and will likely put several of these companies out of business. The costly process of migrating studio hardware and software is a major burden, especially on studios that have made recent upgrades to support Final Cut Pro. If many had known of the Final Cut Pro X release prior to investing in expensive hardware and software licenses, most, if not all, would have sought alternative solutions.
A large corporation such as Apple, Inc. should not make "revolutionary" paradigm-shifting changes to software which can be referred to as "industry-standard". This is unfair to workers who rely on Final Cut Pro as a business tool and will devastate the Final Cut Pro community. Many editors have relied on the software since its first release and supported Apple through both the hard and easy times. Apple Inc. now has over $75 billion in assets and does not need to risk the livelihoods of its professional customers by silently discontinuing "Final Cut Pro" instead of selling it to a company willing to support working film, tv, and advertising industry professionals.
We, the Final Cut Pro community, hereby request that:
1. Final Cut Studio 3 is immediately reinstated, supported, and referred to as Apple's "professional grade" editing application.
2. Final Cut Pro is restored under a new name with the functionality and user interface of Final Cut Pro 7.
3. Final Cut Pro X is to be considered part of the iMovie family or labeled a "prosumer" product.OR,
1. The source code to Final Cut Pro 7 is auctioned or sold to a third-party by January 1, 2012."
I am the Editor-in-Chief of FCP.co and have run the website since its inception ten years ago.
I have also worked as a broadcast and corporate editor for over 30 years, starting on one inch tape, working through many formats, right up to today's NLEs.
Under the name Idustrial Revolution, I have written and sold plugins for Final Cut Pro for 13 years.
I was made a Freeman of Lichfield through The Worshipful Company of Smiths (established 1601). Though I haven't yet tried to herd a flock of sheep through the city centre!
Current Editing
2020 has been busy, the beginning of the year was finishing off a new property series (cut on FCP) for Channel 4 called The Great House Giveaway. I also designed and built the majority of the graphics as Motion templates. It has been a great success and the shows grabbed more viewers in the 4pm weekday slot than any previous strand. It has been recommissioned by C4 for 60 episodes, including prime-time versions and five themed programmes. The shows have also been nominated for a 2021 BAFTA.
Although both were postponed to later in the year, I worked again on ITV's coverage of the Tour de France and La Vuelta. 2020 was my 25th year of editing the TdF and my 20th year as lead editor. The Tour was the first broadcast show to adopt FCPX working for multiple editors on shared storage.
BBC's Snooker has played a big part in my life, I've been editing tournament coverage since 1997. I'm proud to be part of a very creative team that has pioneered many new ideas and workflows that are now industry standard in sports' production. This is currently an Adobe Premiere edit.
Covid cancelled some of the regular corporate events that I edit such as trade shows & events. I was lucky however to edit, from home, on projects for Amazon Kindle, Amazon Black Friday, Mastercard and very proud to have helped local charitable trust Kendall & Wall secure lottery funding.
As for software, my weapon of choice is Final Cut Pro and Motion, but I also have a good knowledge and broadcast credits with Adobe Premiere Pro, MOGRT design and Photoshop.
Plugin Design & Development
I'm the creative force behind Idustrial Revolution, one of the oldest Final Cut Pro plugin developers. It hosts a range of commercial and free plugins on the site. One free plugin was downloaded over a thousand times within 24 hours of release.
I also take on custom work, whether it is adapting an existing plugin for a special use or designing new plugins for clients from scratch. Having a good knowledge of editing allows me to build-in flexibility and more importantly, usability.
FCP.co
Now in its 10th year and 4th redesign, running FCP.co has given me knowledge on how to run a large CMS- you are currently reading my bio from the database! Although it sounds corny, I am pretty well up on social media trends & techniques, especially in the video sector. The recent Covid restrictions has enabled live FCP.co shows online. This involves managing a Zoom Webinar through Restream.io to YouTube and Facebook.
The Future
I'm always open to new ideas and opportunities, so please get in touch at editor (at) fcp.co. I've judged film competitions, presented workflow techniques to international audiences and come up with ideas for TV shows and software programs!
